The most awesome event imaginable will take place on Judgment Day – that day in which every man, woman, boy and girl will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to receive their final sentence, either of everlasting happiness and glory, or everlasting misery and torment.
Make no mistake — Jesus Christ will be the One who will determine your eternal destiny. He is the One God has appointed as Judge of the living and the dead. Christ Himself said, “Not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.”
Jesus Christ is the only One qualified to act as Judge of all mankind, because He is both God and man in one person. As God He knows all things. His eyes are as a flame of fire, piercing into the very soul of man, discerning his hidden motives for his actions. All things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Human judges are at a decided disadvantage, not knowing all the facts. That will not be the case, however, on the final day. Christ will bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts. Human judges also face the disadvantage of being sinners themselves, thus tending to be either too strict or too lenient. Jesus, on the other hand, is perfect. He loves righteousness, and hates wickedness. The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. Furthermore, as man, Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to judge, because He stands as one of us, fully identifying with us in all our weaknesses and sorrow, having been tempted in every way just as we are. God gave Jesus authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
Have you ever wondered what it will be like to face Jesus Christ on Judgment Day? You don’t need to remain in doubt — the Bible is very clear on that subject. When Jesus Christ appears as Judge of all mankind, it will be an awesome sight! Earth and heaven will flee from His presence. The heavens and earth will pass away with a roar, the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. In that day, you will have no place to hide. You will wish you could command the rocks and mountains to fall on you and hide you from the presence of the One who sits on the throne and from the wrath of Jesus Christ, but there will be no hiding place for you.
All mankind of all the ages — the great, powerful, and wealthy, as well as the lowly, obscure, and poor — will stand before Him. This great multitude will stretch out like a vast ocean of humanity as far as the eye can see, all arraigned before His holy throne. Then Jesus will open the books. These books include a record of every one of our thoughts, words, and deeds, as well as every one of God’s righteous and holy commands. Jesus will measure our deeds against His holy commands, and every human being will be found guilty. No one has loved God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, nor his neighbor as himself. All of our evil thoughts, hatred, adulteries, fornications, lusts, thefts, slanders, lies, deceit, pride, and greed will be brought out as evidence against us on that Great Day. All of these are evil and offensive to our holy God. Our conscience knows right from wrong; on that day we will be without excuse. Imagine if you only sinned three times a day (and surely we all sin much more than that), by the time you were twenty years old, you would have more than 20,000 sins to account for on Judgment Day! If you were convicted of that many crimes in a court of law, the judge would either lock you up for life and throw away the key, or give you the death sentence. God is much more just than any human judge. Surely, His judgment will be far more searching and severe.
That is why God is commanding all men everywhere to repent — He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through Jesus, whom He has appointed the judge of the living and the dead. Notice, that the day is “fixed.” You won’t be able to avoid it. It will come upon you, whether you are prepared for it or not. Wisdom screams at you to seize your present opportunity to enter through the door of mercy before it is closed forever, and you are forced to stand before God in all your sins, and are cast into hell.
The only way you can escape God’s judgment is to repent. The word “repent” means to change your mind. You need to change your mind about Jesus Christ. Up to this point you probably have not had much interest in Jesus. You may have thought of Him as a good teacher, a prophet, a famous religious leader, or perhaps even as the Son of God, but your view of Him has never changed your life radically. You need to change your mind about Christ. You need to see Him as the One who was crucified in order to save His people from their sins. God sent Jesus into the world, to bear the punishment that we deserve, by dying upon a cross. As Jesus hung from the cross, nearly 2,000 years ago, He was bearing the wrath of God against sin. You need to see Him as the Risen Lord to whom you are accountable. You need to see Him as the Coming King, who will destroy all His enemies, and reward all His faithful followers. You need to see Him as the Righteous Judge who will sentence you to either everlasting happiness in heaven, or eternal torment in hell.
Having seen Jesus Christ in these ways, you must forsake anything and everything that would keep you from following Him. He said, “He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.” Furthermore, He taught, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Becoming a Christian is no light matter. It means making a total and unreserved commitment to Jesus Christ, becoming one of His disciples, and seeking to obey Him in whatever He commands. It means turning from any supposed righteousness of your own, and instead, banking your entire hope of eternal life upon Him alone. The one who enters into this kind of relationship with Jesus Christ will never be the same. Yet, when you really think about it, there is no other option. He alone has the words of eternal life. “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” If you would like a free Bible or more information on becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, contact us below.
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